Evidence-Based Practice: Web Resources
Evaluating Health Information
- Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of MedicineFrom the National Institutes of Health(National Library of Medicine)This tutorial teaches you how to evaluate the health information that you find on the Web. It is about 16 minutes long.
You need the Flash plug-in, version 8 or above, to view it. If you do not have Flash, you will be prompted to obtain a free download of the software before you start.The tutorial runs automatically, but you can also use the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen to go forward, backward, pause, or start over.
EBP Calculators
- Diagnostic Test CalculatorThis interactive calculator can determine diagnostic test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios) and/or determine the post-test probability of disease given the pre-test probability and test characteristics. Given sample sizes, confidence intervals are also computed.
- EBM CalculatorThese calculators were created for your own personal use and testing purposes. They are to be used as a guide only. Medical decisions should NOT be based solely on the results of these programs. Although this program has been tested thoroughly, the accuracy of the information cannot be guaranteed.
- Number Needed to Treat (Dr. Cates)The concept of Number Needed to Treat has become popular because it combines an estimate of the Relative Benefit of a particular treatment with the background risk of patients. It is the inverse of the Absolute Risk Reduction and represents how many people would need to receive a particular treatment or intervention in order that one of them should benefit from the treatment.
Glossary websites
Useful links
- Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (Oxford University)The Centre promotes evidence-based health care and provide support and resources to anyone who wants to make use of them. Includes the EBM Toolbox, an assortment of materials which are very useful for practitioners of EBM, and EBM Teaching Materials, including PowerPoint presentations.
- Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (Toronto)Includes many resources for practicing and teaching EBM.
- Evidence-Based PracticeA selective list of additional EBM websites developed and maintained by Duke University Medical Center Library.
- Users' Guides to Evidence-Based PracticeFrom the University of Alberta's Centre for Health Evidence. Includes the complete set of EBM Users' Guides originally published as a series in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
- Evidence-Based Medicine ToolkitA collection of tools for identifying, assessing and applying relevant evidence for better health care decision-making based on the work of the Evidence Based Medicine Working Group. The site contains in-depth search strategies for finding EBM articles and guides to using them.
- Evidence-Based Health Care Resources on the InternetCompiled by the Medical Library Association, this site includes many links to EBM resources. Includes EBM tutorial sites, organizations and journals, search filters, journals, practice guidelines, and systematic reviews.
- Evidence-Based PracticeThe University of Washington maintains this list of links to EBM resources. The site has links to finding tools, definitions, glossaries, calculators, and evidence-based medicine research.
- Evidence-Based Medicine: Teaching MaterialsFrom the Dartmouth Biomedical Libraries.
- Evidence-Based Practice from AOTAResources from The American Occupational Therapy Association
- OTSeekerOTseeker is a database that contains abstracts of systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials and other resources relevant to occupational therapy interventions.
- Evidence-Based Occupational TherapyThis Evidence-Based Occupational Therapy Web-portal has been designed in partnership with international colleagues to provide strategies, knowledge and resources to aid occupational therapists in finding out about and using evidence
Glossary of terms
- Case study
A publication that describes a single person, group, situation, or event.
- Review article
Article or publication which provides an overview or summary of a specific topic by examining the published literature on the topic. See the Literature Reviews LibGuide for different styles and types of reviews.
- Critical appraisal
A short summary of a specific topic from the literature, created to answer a specific clinical question.
- Cohort study
Study in which a defined population is followed over a long period of time to compare one or more variables' correlation to the outcome of interest. An example would be to look at ISU college freshmen and follow them over time, looking at specific variables or interventions and their resulting effect.
- Case-control study
Study which compares a group of research subjects with the outcome of interest to an appropriate control group without the outcome of interest. The proportion of each group having a history of one or more particular attributes or variables of interest is then compared. A case-control study looks at a population now and then examines its history to look at the presence (or not) of variables of interest by comparing to the control group.
- Guideline
Practice guidelines are statements or other indications of policy or procedure for standards of care or practice based upon the best available level of evidence. Health fields often refer to "clinical practice guidelines." Guidelines are often created by an expert consensus group based on rigorous analysis of existing evidence.
- Integrative Review
Another term for an evidence summary. See The integrative review: updated methodology.
- Randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT)
Study in which the research subjects are randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group is exposed to the variable of interest and the control group is not. The results are compared.
- Review
Summary or overview of a topic that does not necessarily include all research studies and does not necessarily use a systematic method to collect the research studies.
- Systematic Review
A study which uses rigorous, standardized methods for selecting and assessing all relevant research studies on a specific topic. A systematic review does not include a quantitative summary of the results.
- Meta-analysis
A systematic study which uses rigorous, standardized methods to identify and evaluate all relevant prior studies on a specified topic according to a predetermined and explicit method. A statistical aggregation and analysis is then performed to combine the results of these studies to determine whether significant trends can be found. A meta-analysis includes a quantitative summary of the results.
- Qualitative Meta-Synthesis
A review of studies that combines a number of qualitative studies based on a preestablished set of selection criteria and systematic appraisal of study quality.